, 1887-07-26
AT THE LUNCH ROOMS.
Hobbies in EntabIes-scenes in New York
Eating Houses-OIeals at Cost

Hobbies in EatRbles-scenes in New York
Eating Houses-OIeals at Cost
We ave got beyond the mere appetite
for a change. We now nave hobbies.
The principal one is for macaroni din
ners at Italian places, and lesser ones for
light wines from the French, sweet pastry
from Broadway bakeries and English
food at the chop houses. The Italians
have prospered so by the macaroni craze
rs to nave beer able to hire some of the
best mansions on Fifth avenue for their
business. They serve seven courses for
81 OF $3.50. The macaroni which forms
one course is of the second size and called
'.spaghetti"-threads of baked dough the
size of a telegraph wire. 1t is boiled in
beef stock, then has stewed tomato and
plenty of butter added and is baked with
a heavy topping of grated Parmesan
cheese.
A fashionable macorini place is on
Fourteenth street, INT is called the dirt
lest place in towH, but the food and
services are clean, and Nicolini, Gerster,
Clmpanini and most of the great singers
as well as many actors patronize it. A
pint of essence of logwood, called "vin
o%rdinaire, - is given away in most maca-
rom places, but when we want wine we
go to places kept by importers of Italian
or Hungarian drinks. We take our
wives, sisters and country cousins there,
and never tire of the wicked sport of com
pairing their grave and quiet decorum
when they sit down with their vivacious
prattle at the close of the meal and bottom
of the bottle. Even in Delmonico's uptown
the sedate and naughty ladies who swept
grandly to the tables at half past 6
o'clock are found at half past 2 to AVE
become a demonstrative, high voiced, talk
alive throng with kindling eyes and a
tendency to paroxysms of laughter. The
disciplined walters whose heads were
from the first slightly elevated, now lift
their noses high and stare ~intently at the
ceiling, oblivious of every little whisper
ed riskiness in speech, of every tender
glance across the tables, of everything
except the orders for more food and
drink.
You seldom see ladies without male
escorts in any Of these places, the reason
being hat no matter how extravaganza
our women may be with money they al
ways practice economy in eating. The
ladies of all circles flock to the cheapest
and meanest places in the shopping dis
tricts for their luncheons, and even there
they buy only one dish and usually a
cheap one. You see this best at a bakers
shop in upper Broadway, where a restau-
rant business is carried on. The forepart
of the shop is appointed with counters
and high stools, the rea with tables and
chairs. AT o you see the tall stools
all capped with stylish maids and DANES,
looking as uncomfortable as so many
cats on a clothes line, yet backed by a
double row of the sisterhood waiting
their turns. This is because the average
charge is five cents a dish cheaper at the
high stool counters han at the tables.
All about the shopping district are these
bake shop lunch rooms, where the wo-
men get ten cent meal to tantalize their
digestive organs and satisfy their con-
sciences while debating whether to pay a
dohar extra for the new lavender stitch
ing On black kid gloves, or estimating the
cost of a dress Just seen in the street and
to be initiated at no matter what expense.
The girls that wait on the ladies in the
shopping stores get their own meals by
snatches out of little sachels in some
places. In others they are allowed
twenty minutes to go out or c~ongregate
in those corners of the establishment
where they hang their street clothes. The
largest place on Sixth avenue sells meals
to its girls at cost price-two apples for a
cent, coffee two cents a cup, pie three
cents a cut, oyster stew, six cents, etc.
This is the most singular dining room 1
ever saw. If you entered when it was
crowded on any afternoon you would
think it a reading or a sewing room
rather than what it is, for half of the
girls sit at the table pouring over ten cent
novels, and many others are busy sewing
or crocheting. At least half of them
bring their w lunCheons and buy
merely an apple or a cup of tea.~Julian
Ralph's Letter in Pioneer Press.